Consumerism hampers poverty alleviation program

Agus Maryono, The Jakarta Post 28 Jan 09;

The government initiated the National Self Reliance Community Empowerment (PNPM) program five years ago in villages across the country, but it still has not significantly addressed poverty issues. The poverty rate continues to rise and people's buying power has not changed as food prices have increased.

Coordinator of the PNPM program for Banyumas and Cilacap regencies in Central Java, Puji Karyanto, 35, said the community empowerment project that targets the less privileged would take time to yield results due to a lack of awareness amid a consumerist community that are misinformed about the program's intention.

"What I have experienced is that the community in Banyumas, especially in Cilacap, tends to be consumptive. The moment they receive any cash assistance, they use it to buy household goods, which will lead to the program's failure. People's awareness of productive activities must be enhanced," Karyanto told The Jakarta Post.

He and other facilitators said they have been working to raise people's awareness on ways to manage the government funds appropriately.

"Each village involved in the program needs between six months and a year of training because they are already conditioned to spend. When the funds are distributed, I'm sure they would immediately spend them all without a trace.

"They believe that the assistance funds are meant to be divided among themselves. They think implementing productive programs is not important, so they just make up financial reports," Karyanto said.

This, according to him, has become a major problem.

"I don't know where this mentality comes from or who influenced them. They probably have watched TV reports on corruption and markups, so they followed," he said.

Karyanto wants to educate residents that the funds must be used productively and according to the urgent needs of a village.

He added that 80 percent of the PNPM program was funded by the central government and the remaining from the respective regency budgets.

The program in Banyumas regency has been operating since 2005. In 2008, the central government provided Rp 8.7 billion (US$ 790,000) in PNPM funds from the state budget as direct community assistance.

Regency administrations are obligated to provide 25 percent of the fund, divided by 20 percent for the community and 5 percent for operational costs.

Of the 27 districts and 330 villages encompassing Banyumas regency, only 85 villages in eight districts have been provided with project funds.

In Cilacap regency, the program has been evaluated for 15 villages in three of 23 districts. Villages will be included in the program based on the needs and policies of the respective regency administration.

According to Karyanto, the amount of funds disbursed to each village will be in line with the number of residents. "Villages with over 10,000 inhabitants will each receive Rp 350 million, and those with a population below 10,000 are each entitled to Rp 200 million," Karyanto said.

Funds will be disbursed every four months and prioritized according to environmental restoration, social and economic activities.

"In the initial stage, 70 percent of the funds will be allocated for environmental projects, 20 percent for economic and 10 percent for social projects," Karyanto said, adding that the project operation and supervision would be entrusted to village committees and supervised by facilitators.

A program facilitator in North Cilacap district, Widodo, 34, said the 70 percent of funds set aside for environmental projects would be used for road and irrigation repairs, and renovations for poor households.

"We have discussed with the local village committees about the urgent needs of the village. Most of them have focused on irrigation and road repairs," Widodo said.

He added the 20 percent of funds set aside for economic affairs would be used for various activities. "Some of them could be used to form cooperatives or for goat farming," Widodo said.

He added each person was only entitled to a Rp 500,000 loan from the economic budget. "Unpaid loans are a problem, since villagers regard the program as a government project, and they think that it's all right for them not to repay the loans," Widodo said.

Zen Afroni, a village committee member of the PNPM program in Bojongsari village, Kembaran district, Banyumas, said a positive aspect of the project was its transparency.

"Every project is discussed among residents regarding our urgent needs, so it's not the decision of the committee," Zen said.

A facilitator in Kembaran district, Hery Siswanto, agreed saying transparency was one of the advantages of the PNPM program.

"Project implementation and supervision are carried out by residents, including us, so I can say that the project is free of corruption," Hery said.